Back to You
by Sarah August
Summary: Based after the end of the tv series. Elena stayed with Damon and Stefan moved on with Katherine, but the past lead them back to each other. Confessions are made, and Stefan and Elena realize that they still love each other. Pairing: Stelena.


Title: Back to You

Summary: Based after the end of the series. Elena stayed with Damon and Stefan moved on with Katherine, but the past lead them back to each other. Confessions are made, and Stefan and Elena realize that they still love each other.

* * *

"You just left," Elena spat out at the sight of him.

She knew that she had no right to judge, but her feelings had been crushed by his absence in her life. Stefan had eventually pulled away all together from Damon and herself, and Elena didn't blame him for it, but it had still hurt terribly to lose him. Almost unbearably.

It was like having a part of yourself be ripped away from you and you couldn't get it back, no matter how much you had longed too. Elena had given up that right by going from one brother to the other. She knew that. It had been a choice made that had changed everything between Stefan and herself. It had solidified that there would be no going back for them. Even if there was still love there.

"I had too, Elena," replied Stefan after a long, hard silence. "I know that we managed to get along after we got rid of Silas, but I had to go away. When I lost you, I lost the right I had to be here. I couldn't just stay, not while you were with Damon. Not in this house."

"Stefan, I'm sorry that we hurt you. And I know I can't take it back, but this is your home. I should have left, not you. You should have told us how you felt. Not just leave with _Katherine_..."

Stefan stopped short at hearing his former love's name. It still tore at him to hear it. They had managed to reunite and stay together for a long time through a lot of changes in Katherine's life. The return of her daughter had changed Katherine for the better. And just as she had laid at deaths door Elijah had found them and made Katherine back into a vampire before she died as a human. It turned out that an original could make her immortal again. They remained together after that for three years. They had lived together in Chicago. And Stefan had loved her again. It had felt so good to love her again. It had made him forget what he had lost.

His relationship with Katherine had eventually fell apart. They did love each other again, but in time they both knew that they weren't meant to be together. Katherine had loved him again, but her heart still belonged to a 1000 year old vampire who had only wanted to believe in love again, with her. And Stefan had never quite let go the memory of the one standing before him now. He and Katherine had parted with no regrets.

"I don't regret anything with _Katherine_, Elena. She got me through one of the darkest times of my life. I owe her everything, and I fell in love with her again."

"Are you still with her now..." Elena asked and then looked away rather shamefully. She had no right, but she was jealous. She couldn't help it.

Stefan looked as if he was deciding something, but then his face soften. "No. We broke up a few months ago. We both realized that we wanted other things."

"_Elijah_," Elena's face darted up, happy surprise all over her expression. She tried to fake sympathy, but she couldn't. She smirked and it felt good knowing that she hadn't quite lost Stefan yet.

"And you and _Damon_..." Stefan said, wanting confirmation as well.

Elena broke into a smile, not out of pain or regret, but from pure irony. "Damon broke up with me shortly after you left town with Katherine. He too couldn't quite shake the spell of my doppelganger. He realized that he only wanted to be with me because he couldn't have her. And that I only wanted to be with Damon because I honestly thought I had driven you away forever when you left with Lexie. I didn't want to be alone. But then you came back, and I had already _made my choice_," Elena finished softly, happy to have that confession off of her chest.

"You choose to love Damon because you thought I was leaving for good," Stefan said, happy to finally hear why the love of his life had picked his brother over him. Even after her emotions had returned. It had hit him in the chest like a knife knowing that she had willingly decided to be with Damon over being with himself. It had taken him awhile to accept her choice.

"I know it was selfish of me. But after everything with Silas, losing Jeremy, Alaric, and then knowing I had done everything to ruin what we had together, that I was losing you too, I couldn't bare to be alone. So I did the one thing I never thought I would do, I gave into it all with Damon. He helped me live in a perfect little bubble of our own reality where I didn't have to deal with everything. I didn't have to think about what I did to everyone, to us. I held on to Damon for dear life. But then you came back, and it hurt so much because I knew that I could never go back to the past. I could never take back the things I did. So I _stayed_ with Damon. Even when it clearly wasn't working out between us."

"And if he didn't decide to end things..."

"I likely would still be with him Stefan," Elena confessed painfully. "He became everything to me because I let myself believe I had nothing without him. But I didn't realize something..."

"What?" asked Stefan, daring to hope again.

"That despite everything, the past, I still had the way I felt about you. I lost my way, Stefan, when I became a vampire. I let myself believe I was this terrible monster now, that the old me was dead, gone, unworthy of being with you. I didn't realize that being a vampire doesn't have to be like that. I could still be her, that girl who loved you more than anything. And if you could find it within your heart to forgive me, I want another chance Stefan. With you. I want to be with you, forever, if you'll let me."

Stefan blinked, stunned that this was really happening. Elena was here, with him. She had never stopped loving him, wanting to be with him. It was as if a darkness was lifting and he could see again. And all he could see was her. It was always her, if he wanted to be honest with himself. He had loved Katherine, but he had loved Elena more.

Stefan, silently, moved before her and gently embraced her as he used too. Just holding her close, enjoying the feel of her. It had been way too long. "I love you, Elena," He whispered into her hair. Elena simply took relish in hearing those words from Stefan's lips and she smiled in joy. Starting to cry, she held him, vowing to never let go of him again. With him, Elena was finally home again. She felt complete. And the past was erased and the future was now. The future now belonged to them. Stefan and Elena.


End file.
